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10400 - Midnight Express (1978)
Midnight Express is a 1978 American/British prison drama action adventure film from Columbia Pictures, based on the 1977 book of the same name by Billy Hayes and William Hoffer. It was directed by Alan Parker, starred Brad Davis, Irene Miracle, Paul L. Smith, Randy Quaid, Mike Kellin, Bo Hopkins, and John Hurt, and was adapted into the screenplay by Oliver Stone. The film was the 15th of Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment's first 22 movies from 1979. Synopsis Original 1979 release (VHS/Betamax/Super 8mm) In 1970, Bill Hayes (Brad Davis) an American college student is sentenced to four years in a Turkish prison for a minor drug offense. Stoically, he endures the beatings that are his daily routine until he hears that his sentence has been revised upwards, to 30 years, as a lesson to other potential offenders. Realizing that he has, in fact, been sentenced to death, Hayes rallies whatever strengths he has to escape...to take the "midnight express." 1980 reissue (VHS/Betamax) In 1970, Billy Hayes (Brad Davis) an American college student is sentenced to four years in a Turkish prison for a minor drug offense. Stoically, he endures the beatings that are his daily routine until he hears that his sentence has been revised upwards, to 30 years, as a lesson to other potential offenders. Realizing that he has, in fact, been sentenced to death, Hayes rallies whatever strengths he has to escape...to take the "midnight express." 1981 reissue (VHS/Betamax) In 1970, Billy Hayes (Brad Davis), an American college student, is sentenced to four years in a Turkish prison for a minor drug offense. Stoically, he endures the beatings that are his daily routine until he hears that his sentence has been revised upwards to 30 years as a lesson to other potential offenders. Realizing that he has, in fact, been sentenced to death, Hayes rallies whatever strengths he has to escape...to take the "midnight express." Specifications *Originally filmed in the Academy ratio and intended to be shown in widescreen. *Packaging updated in 1981 to reflect the corporate logo having been updated. *Original catalog number in the early '80s was 10400 for VHS and 51405 for Betamax. *Red text instead of the standard blue text, just like Bell, Book and Candle and Eyes of Laura Mars. *Reissued during the second wave in 1980. *Later prints, beginning in June 1983, were closed-captioned. *Older copies of the original 1979 release were sped up to 25fps for a running time of 1 hour 56 minutes (as opposed to the original 2 hours 1 minute running time), to fit a 120-minute tape. *Some 121-minute copies that fit a 120-minute tape do not show the SMPTE color bars at the end. *The 1980 reissue uses the censored cable TV edit of the film, which would later air on TV networks including ABC. *Part of Columbia Pictures Television's Volume One for the '80s syndication package, released in Winter 1980. *As late as 1991, copies have been known to come in 1985 RCA/Columbia boxes with RCA/Columbia labels. Category:Movies Category:VHS/Betamax titles Category:Super 8mm titles Category:Wave One Category:1979 releases Category:1978 films Category:Action films Category:Adventure films Category:Prison films Category:Drama films Category:Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment titles Category:Columbia Pictures films